Climate Change Bill: proposed amendments; ISWPA, SAWS, SANParks & SANBI Quarter 3 & 4 2022/23 Performance; with Deputy Minister

Meeting report

The Chairperson indicated that Ms Gantsho informed him that she would not be able to attend the meeting as her brother had been involved in an accident earlier in the morning. He then asked if the Minister was present in the meeting.

Ms Maggie Sotyu, Deputy Minister of forestry, fisheries and the Environment, indicated that she would be leading the delegation as the Minister was attending a Cabinet meeting.

The Chairperson requested a mover for the adoption of the agenda.

Ms H Winkler (DA) moved for the adoption of the agenda.

Ms T Mchunu (ANC) seconded the mover for the adoption of the agenda.

The agenda was duly adopted.

The Chairperson asked if any other apologies were registered.

Deputy Minister Sotyu tabled an apology on behalf of the Director-General of the department.

Ms Hapiloe Sello, Chief Executive Officer, SANParks, mentioned that the Board Chairperson would be late to the meeting.

Thereafter, the Chairperson handed over to the State Law Advisor to take the Committee through the A-List version of the Climate Change Bill.

A-List version of the Climate Change Bill

Ms Thiloshini Gangen, Parliamentary Legal Advisor, Constitutional and Legal Services Office, took Members through the amendments and proposals they made in the discussions on the previous day.

The Chairperson proposed that the A-List version be shared with the Members so that they can scrutinise it further.

Mr D Bryant (DA) asked if it was necessary for the Bill, in Clause Ten, to include that local councillors serve on the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC); or if the Committee should follow the Minister’s advice that the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) be used as a tool for local councillors to engage with the Commission.

Ms Gangen said that the Committee had to believe in the systems that are currently in place. Members of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures have been excluded from serving on the PCC. In her view, there was no need to include local councillors as this was a policy matter. All in all, she was satisfied with the Clause.

Mr Shaun Van Breda, Senior State Law Advisor, Office of the Chief State Law Advisor, agreed with Ms Gangen’s opinion on the Clause.

Mr Bryant asked if the intention was for the Bill to state that local councillors should not serve on the PCC. This was important to consider as processes could be manipulated for political reasons by a group of councillors in the future. He was pleased with this amendment.

Ms A Weber (DA) was also pleased with the amendment but she believed that it should clearly state that any serving Member of Parliament, Legislature or a councillor cannot serve on the PCC, otherwise a loophole will be left in the Bill.

The Chairperson reminded Members of the statement made by the Minister on the role of SALGA in representing the concerns of councillors at the PCC. He asked Members how they felt the Clause should be drafted.

Ms Mchunu said that she was comfortable with the Clause and proposed that it be left as is because SALGA will be able to represent the interests of councillors at the PCC.

The Chairperson asked the State Law Advisors what the potential problems would be if councillors were allowed to serve on the PCC.

Mr Van Breda mentioned that the A-List must reflect all of the amendments proposed by the Committee. As such, the State Law Advisors will be guided by the Committee. He recommended that the department provide the Committee with clarity on the question posed.

Mr Bryant agreed with the suggestion that the department advises the Committee on this Clause. However, he noted that one of the issues with the proposal is that the majority of councillors perform their duties on a part-time basis. Councillors who also work in different sectors chosen to serve on the PCC may show their political biases during discussions at the PCC.

Mr Tlou Ramaru, Chief Director: Climate Change Adaptation, DFFE, supported the Minister’s proposal that SALGA represents local councillors at the PCC.

Ms Weber suggested that the Clause include a threshold for the number of SALGA representatives serving on the PCC.

Ms S Mbatha (ANC) also supported the Minister’s proposal and recommended that the Committee leave the Clause as is.

Deputy Minister Sotyu highlighted that representatives from SALGA already serve on the PCC.

Mr Sibusiso Kobese, Director: Law Reform, DFFE, said that the Minister was clear in her statement that SALGA and councillors should not be prohibited from participating in the Commission. An open and transparent process has been included for the appointment to the PCC – which is the call for nominations to serve.

Mr Bryant asked what the rationale was for prohibiting members of provincial legislatures (MPL) from serving on the PCC.

The Chairperson was unsure as to whether the department would have an answer to the question.

Mr Bryant said that the DFFE must have an answer prepared as it made the proposal.

Mr Kobese reminded the Members that the department proposed their fair representation on the PCC. With this in place, the DFFE did not believe that there would be greater representation of one group over another.

In response to the question on the reasons for prohibiting MPLs, he explained that the prohibition was previously made by the Committee as it was concerned with the possible conflict of interest in MPs and MPLs serving on the PCC. The DFFE has included a provision that relevant Ministers must be invited to attend meetings of the Commission.

Ms Weber clarified that the Committee had made the proposal for the prohibition of MPs and MPLs because they are employed full-time and it wanted to avoid a conflict of interest. She asked if there were members of SALGA who were not councillors who currently served on the Commission. If so, would it not be advisable for the Clause to state that only they could serve on the PCC as they would not be politically affiliated?

There is a difference between having a Minister sitting in on a PCC meeting and a councillor serving on it, she stressed.

Mr Bryant said that when proposing amendments, the Committee must ensure that it addresses all loopholes so as to prevent issues arising in the future, such as one where the PCC is packed with party political councillors in order to achieve a certain end. If there is an intention to prevent MPLs from serving on the PCC, the same principle must be applied with councillors, especially those elected on a party political ticket. Despite that, he supported SALGA’s continued involvement in the PCC.

The Chairperson said his understanding of SALGA was that it is a representative body for all councillors from local government. He felt that it would be wrong for the Committee to propose that the Bill prescribe for only administrative officials or councillors not elected through a party political ticket to represent SALGA at the PCC.

Due to the disputes between Members, he advised that the State Law Advisors and the DFFE look into all the concerns shared by Members and address them in the Clause.

Mr Van Breda asked for the Chairperson to clarify what exactly he wanted the State Law Advisors to do.

Ms Mchunu agreed with the Chairperson's proposal, as she believed that it would be wrong to propose a blanket prohibition of councillors representing SALGA on the PCC, as many of them are not elected through a party political ticket, which was different from how MPLs are currently elected.

The Chairperson pointed out that the provision for the PCC to have fair representation was inclusive of SALGA.

Mr Van Breda indicated that the State Law Advisors would consult with the department on a suitable proposal to include in the A-List on the representation of councillors and SALGA on the PCC.

The Chairperson asked when the amendments would be made to the Clause because the Committee will only be able to debate its motion of desirability after that is finalised.

Mr Van Breda assumed that the amended A-List would be submitted to the Committee on Friday.

The Chairperson asked if this was in order with Members.

Mr Bryant mentioned that it was important for the Committee to be provided clarity on why local councillors would not be prohibited as MPLs will.

Ms Weber asked if the meeting could be held at 09:00 as the Members had to attend mini-plenaries at 10:00.

Ms Tyhileka Madubela, Committee Secretary, indicated that the Committee had three more meetings to finalise the Bill. She asked if the Committee would be able to meet the deadline for the printing of the other versions of the Bill.

The Chairperson mentioned that if the Committee clarified and adopted the Clause on Friday morning it would be able to proceed with finalising the entire process of the Bill on time.

Following those deliberations, the Chairperson handed over to the Deputy Minister.

Deputy Minister Sotyu indicated that both the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairperson of the isiMangaliso Wetland Park Board were present in the meeting and would take the Committee through the entity’s Third and Fourth Quarter Report for the 2022-2023 financial year. She handed over to the Board Chairperson to make his opening remarks.

Opening remarks by the Chairperson of the isiMangaliso Wetland Park Authority (ISWPA) Board

Inkosi Mabhudu Tembe, Board Chairperson, ISWPA, congratulated the entity for achieving an unqualified audit opinion, which illustrates the work done by the administration. Thereafter, he welcomed the re-appointment of the CEO Mr Sibusiso Bukhosini.

isiMangaliso was inscribed as a world heritage site in the year 2000, with the objectives to conserve, protect and preserve the park; to empower historically disadvantaged communities living adjacent to the park; and to optimise tourism and related development in the park.

The entity has managed to assist historically disadvantaged communities through a number of projects that have been implemented. These projects are mainly from the environmental protection and infrastructure programme and have created a number of jobs and business opportunities. Thus, the entity has become a catalyst for local economic development and continues to make a dent towards fighting the three government social ills: poverty, unemployment and inequality.

isiMangaliso has contributed to the district service delivery model through partnerships with municipalities in implementing the municipal clean and green programme, which has produced two hundred and sixty-eight jobs to date.

The Strategic Plan, the Annual Performance Plan and the programmes that the entity has implemented have been aligned to the Sixth Administration and government goals, he went on.

He told Members that many of the output indicators for the Five-Year plan have been met, with the remaining ones to follow before the end of the Sixth Administration’s term on 31 March 2024.

isiMangaliso has initiated the process of generating revenue through the commercialisation approach and to date it has finalised the appointments of conveyancers for the small capital projects under R10 million, which includes 32.2% of historically disadvantaged communities. With that being accomplished, IsiMangaliso is pursuing large capital projects.

The entity is now on track to implement the recommendations from the Panel of Experts report on the La Lucia matter. There has been a positive buy-in from farmers adjacent and living in the park. The latest meeting held on 30 August 2023 was positive with community members welcoming the key milestones achieved in the entity’s implementation of the Action Plan. Relations between the entity, Amakhosi and communities living adjacent to the park continued to improve.

The submission of the 2024-2025 Annual Performance Plan will be done accordingly, as per the Public Entity Compliance Calender of 15 September 2023.

Following his remarks, he handed over to the CEO to take the Committee through the presentation.

The Chairperson appealed for IsiMangaliso to only focus on the red areas, or targets, which were not achieved in the two quarters during its presentation in the interest of time.

Briefing by isiMangaliso on its 2022/23 Quarter 3 & 4 Performance

Ms Qhamu Mntambo, Acting CEO, ISWPA, took the Committee through the entity’s third and fourth Quarter Performance report for the 2022-2023 financial year. As per the request of the Chairperson of the Committee, she only touched on the targets not achieved in both quarters.

Operational performance for the Third Quarter

Overall isiMangaliso achieved 91%, or 50 out of 55, of its targets for the Third Quarter. In this period the entity implemented four programmes, these were: corporate support services, biodiversity conservation, tourism and business development, and socio-economic environment development.

isiMangaliso missed one target for programme one (corporate support services), which was a failure to submit Information Communications Technology (ICT) governance framework to the Board for approval. A new submission date of February 2023 was given to the executive management.

One target was also not met for programme two (biodiversity conservation), this was a planned meeting between isiMangaliso, Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Wildlife and KZN Nature Conservation Board, as a quorum could not be met.

Three targets were not met in programme three (tourism and business development). One, was the failure to maintain zero kilometres of the Park’s roads, against a target of fifteen kilometres, which the entity attributed to the slow appointment of a panel of contractors by its supply chain management (SCM) that are expected to undertake infrastructure maintenance projects.

Two, zero kilometres of fencing was erected, against a target of ten kilometres, as most of the areas earmarked for fencing fell under the floodplain due to the floods that took place earlier in the year.

Three, R15.389 million revenue was collected against a target of R16.080 million. This was due to the large number of guest cancellations caused by the severe weather conditions at the time.

All targets for programme four (socio-economic environment development) were met in this quarter.

Operational performance for the Fourth Quarter

isiMangaliso managed to achieve all of its targets for this quarter.

(See Presentation)

Discussion

Ms Winkler noted that the revenue was negatively impacted by the significant flooding that took place at the Park. She asked if there had been serious damage to infrastructure within the area of the Park, and whether there was a repair or maintenance plan currently in place.

During her recent visit to isiMangaliso, she noted that much of the accommodation had deteriorated, with many of them not fit for occupation. She asked if the entity still planned to upgrade the accommodation.

In the presentation, it was mentioned that there have been delays in the implementation of road maintenance due to challenges faced in the supply chain management (SCM) processes, and she asked if the road maintenance plan would include upgrading the roads to the various campsites as most of them were in a poor state.

Thereafter, she asked if any of the animals had been poached recently in the park. If so, she asked what action plan had been drafted to resolve that.

She asked for the Board to confirm if it was concerned by the allegations of sewage leaks in towns surrounding the Park that had filtered into the estuary; if an investigation into the allegations had been conducted; and if so, if it produced evidence that supported the allegations.

In her final question, she asked for the status of the estuary management plan, and whether dredging had been taking place.

Ms Weber was disappointed that a quarterly meeting of the Board did not take place due to a lack of quorum and stressed that it should not occur going forward.

As it was mentioned in the presentation that the entity was unable to erect new fences around certain areas around the park due to the heavy rains, she asked if isiMangaliso had changed the type of fencing it planned to put up as a result of the floods. Moreover, she asked if animals had escaped from the Park in the areas where there was no fencing in place. If there was, what was the extent of damage caused by the animals, she asked.

Mr N Paulsen (EFF) was pleased by the entity’s audit outcome. He indicated that he would pose a few questions to the entity.

One he asked how isiMangaliso planned to adjust its revenue targets for the next financial year given the negative impact of the severe weather conditions on its revenue.

Two, he asked how the inclusion of surrounding communities in economic empowerment activities in the Park affected the incidents of poaching and the security around it.

Three, he asked if the mouth of the estuary had been closed at any point in this current year.

Ms Mchunu applauded the positive financial management outcomes achieved by the entity in the two quarters.

She asked what measures could be implemented to improve the relationships between isiMangaliso, Ezemvelo Wildlife and the Nature Conservation Board. Furthermore, she asked if any progress had been made in improving these relationships.

She recommended that the Committee consider hosting another meeting with IsiMangaliso on the progress it has made in its relations with the communities surrounding the Park.  

Ms Mntambo, in response to the question on whether there had been serious damage to infrastructure within the area of the Park and if there was a repair or maintenance plan currently in place, explained that the entity does have a maintenance plan in place which is implemented as projects are approved – the SCM processes are aligned with the maintenance plan.

Regarding the question of whether the entity still planned to upgrade its accommodation, she told Members that the entity is in the process of taking over certain facilities run by Ezemvelo as it is currently having challenges with its revenue and staff vacancies.

In the previous financial report submitted to the Committee isiMangaliso did report that its accommodation was dilapidated, however, the entity has been unable to repair it because the units are currently run by Ezemvelo. Presently the entity is working on signing off the due diligence on a proposed takeover of all the accommodation units and hopes to submit it to the Minister for her consideration as soon as possible.

Referring to the question of whether the entity had a road maintenance plan in place, she indicated that IsiMangaliso is currently converting the gravel road from Dukuduku Gate to Nhlozi Gate to a tar road. Plans are being put in place to convert other roads in the park, as was done with the road leading from Mission Rock Gate so that maintenance costs are reduced. A budget of fifty million Rand was allocated to the entity this year for this purpose.

On whether isiMangaliso reported any poaching incident for this financial year, she mentioned that no poaching incidents had taken place in the Park, however, she would verify this information and confirm it with the Committee at a later stage.

In relation to the question of whether the Board was concerned by the allegations of sewage leaks into the estuary, she requested that the entity provide a written response to this question, as she was unaware of the allegations.

Responding to the question on the status of the estuary management plan, and whether dredging had been taking place, she pointed out that the Chairperson of the Board mentioned that a written report will be submitted on the entity’s monitoring of the estuary.

There has been positive feedback from the surrounding communities and farmers living along the estuary in its current state. This, she continued, showed that the entity has made progress in the monitoring of the estuary since the appointment of the service provider responsible for the basic assessment that had to be done.

In response to the disappointment expressed by a Member on the fourth quarterly meeting not taking place due to a lack of quorum, she explained that the meeting did not take place due to the lack of availability of both CEOs (those of Ezemvelo and KZN Nature Conservation Board), as well as the executive management.

Regarding the question of whether the animals had escaped from the Park in the areas where there was no fencing in place, she outlined that the fence had not collapsed after the floods had taken place, it had been submerged in the water. Despite this, no animals escaped from the park. Usually, when this occurs, the entity will wait until the floodplain dries up before it erects a new fence.

Concerning the question of how IsiMangaliso planned to adjust its revenue targets for the next financial year given the negative impact of the severe weather conditions on its revenue, she indicated that part of the reason for the delay in IsiMangaliso reporting that it had a revenue shortfall was it had not finalised the advertisements for small capitalisation projects such as game drive, whale watching. Once it had, the entity was able to record its revenue targets and project its revenues going forward.

Touching on the question related to the effect the inclusion of surrounding communities in economic empowerment activities in the Park had on incidents of poaching, she repeated that the entity would return to the Committee with an answer on whether any poaching incidents had taken place at the Park.

Referring to the question of whether the relationships between IsiMangaliso and Ezemvelo Wildlife and the Nature Conservation Board had improved, she confirmed that the relationships had improved, with a meeting planned to take place on 15 September.

The Chairperson highlighted that the entity had not touched on the question posed earlier on if it planned to upgrade its accommodation.

Ms Mntambo indicated that she had provided a response to the question by saying that repairs were conducted during the 2019-2020 financial year and that a process was in place for isiMangaliso to take over those facilities from Ezemvelo. The Minister had previously advised the entity to conduct independent due diligence before it embarked on the takeover process.

The Chairperson asked if Members had any follow-up questions for the entity. As there were none, he then proceeded to hand over to the DM once more.

Deputy Minister Sotyu indicated that both the Chairperson of the SAWS Board and the CEO were present in the meeting.

Opening remarks by the Deputy Chairperson of SAWS

Mr Itani Phaduli, Deputy Board Chairperson, SAWS, announced that the CEO of the entity was elected to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Executive Council on 01 June 2023 and that SAWS had achieved a clean audit.

At the end of the Fourth Quarter SAWS experienced a substantial loss in revenue from its non-statutory commercial revenue ventures. Revenue from its commercial partners was below budget largely due to revenue-generating products linked to the uptime of its radars, which were impacted by loadshedding.

The entity also experienced several operational challenges, such as its ageing and insufficient observation infrastructure which remains vulnerable to vandalism. It is for this reason, he continued, the Board has established a subcommittee to monitor the implementation of the radar infrastructure sustainability plan.

Despite the aforementioned challenges, coupled with the limited resources, the entity continued to predict and warn the public of severe weather events as mandated by the statutory act. With the assistance of numerous tools and available skills within the organisation the key work of SAWS was not compromised.

For the period under review, SAWS achieved 69.23% (Third Quarter) and 70.37% (Fourth Quarter) of its targets. Areas of concern which led to the underperformance related to programme three, which deals with infrastructure and information systems, as the country continued to be impacted by load shedding.

SAWS, he went on, developed its integrated infrastructure sustainability plan which will be implemented over a five-year period, with the aim to expand, automate and modernise the various observation networks. The plan also entails implementing alternative power solutions to minimise the impact of load shedding. Implementation of the five-year plan began at the beginning of the 2023-2024 financial year.

The functionality of the Vaal, Waterberg and Bojanala high-priority area stations remains a concern of SAWS. With the help of the department, the restoration and recapitalisation of the network was ongoing.

Despite its financial constraints, SAWS continues to engage stakeholders and communities through stakeholder and outreach programmes that have assisted the entity in informing, educating and empowering citizens with critical weather and climate information. Many of these engagements were done in partnerships with other departments' entities. Furthermore, through the media, social media, career expositions and the weather-smart application, SAWS continued its journey of creating a weather-smart nation.

Following the remarks, he handed over to the Acting CEO to make the presentation.

The Chairperson congratulated Mr Phaduli on his appointment as Deputy Board Chairperson.

Briefing by SAWS on its 2022/23 Quarter 3 & 4 Performance

Ms Petro Dekker, Acting CEO, SAWS, and Mr Norman Mzizi, CFO, SAWS, took the Committee through SAWS Third and Fourth Quarter APP Performance Report for the 2022-2023 Financial year.

Operational performance for the Third Quarter

Overall for the Third Quarter, SAWS met 69.23% of its targets, with the highest number of missed targets being recorded in programme three. In this period the entity implemented four programmes, these were: weather and climate services, research and innovation, infrastructure and information systems, administration (including corporate and regulatory services).

SAWS managed to meet all of its targets for programme one (weather and climate services), four out of four. Whereas in programme two (research and innovation) it met two out of three of its targets. In this programme it was unable to ensure the availability of 85% of its automatic weather station infrastructure, but it managed to ensure 80% of it was available. The main reason for missing this target was due to the higher levels of load shedding implemented by Eskom.

Five out of the eight targets set out for programme three were missed by SAWS, representing an achievement of 37.5%. One of the targets not achieved was the failure to have 85% of all global atmospheric watch systems available, with the entity managing to have them available 74% of the time. This was due to the higher levels of load shedding implemented by Eskom in November 2022, which exceeded the capacity of the backup energy solutions.

Another target not achieved for this programme was the failure to ensure that 75% of its radar infrastructure was available, with the entity ensuring that 49% of the radars were available. This was also due to the higher stages of load shedding in November 2022.

In addition, SAWS was unable to ensure that 80% of priority areas air quality stations were available on South African Air Quality Information System (SAAQIS) meeting minimum data requirements, with the entity managing to achieve a target of 39%. The low achievement was mainly due to the effects of higher stages of load shedding as well as the damage caused to the infrastructure from the unexpected power surges.

While in programme four (administration) SAWS missed two out of the eleven targets, representing an 81.82% achievement. One of the targets not achieved was the failure to ensure 40% of the management was women, with the entity achieving 38.76%.

Operational performance for the Fourth Quarter

Overall the Fourth Quarter met 70.37%, nineteen out of twenty-seven, of its targets, which represented a 1.14% improvement from the Third Quarter. Once more the highest number of targets were missed in programme three.

Three out of four targets were met for programme one, with SAWS missing its target of making the national weather bulletins available 98% of the time – it recorded an achievement of 95% for this target.

While all the targets were met for programme two, SAWS missed six out of its eight targets for programme three, representing an achievement of 25%. There was a slight drop of 3% in the availability of the automatic weather station infrastructure from 80% in the prior quarter to 77% in the Fourth. This was due to the effects of higher stages of load shedding and the weak global system for mobile communication (GSM) in certain areas.

A decline in the performance of 1% was also recorded for the target to ensure the availability of 85% of global atmospheric watch infrastructure to 73% from 74% in the prior quarter. Once more, the cause for this was the negative impact of the higher stages of load shedding.

Furthermore, for this quarter managed to ensure that 31% of air quality stations in high priority were available on SAAQIS meeting minimum data requirements, representing a decline of 9% from the previous quarter.

However, SAWS noted an improvement in its performance for programme four from 81.82% to 91.67%.

(See Presentation)

Discussion

Ms Weber asked if additional funds were spent on the procurement of generators to mitigate the effects of load shedding on SAWS weather stations. If so, she asked if this had been budgeted for by the entity.

One of the biggest issues faced by the monitoring stations was vandalism. She asked if SAWS still had a serious problem of vandalism.

She expressed her concern about the state of the air quality stations. She asked if there was a reasonable explanation as to why the SAAQIS would not first go to the main polluters and ensure that monitoring of these areas is done properly. Furthermore, she was disappointed that the entity only managed to have 39% of its priority areas air quality stations available on SAAQIS’ meeting minimum data requirements; and asked why this has not been improved on.

In her final question, she asked if SAWS had a plan, which was budgeted for, that would ensure a smooth transition from ageing to new infrastructure.

Ms Mchunu congratulated SAWS for attaining an unqualified audit.

She recalled that at some point it was indicated that SAWS was exploring the option of procuring backup generators for its weather stations to alleviate the impact of load shedding. She asked when SAWS would receive these backup generators.

Then she asked what the cause for SAWS suffering a deficit in the year under review was, and if there was a remedial plan in place. Moreover, she asked if the deficit would not affect the entity’s audit performance going forward.

Ms Winkler congratulated SAWS for attaining an unqualified audit. However, she was concerned by the integrity of information displayed on SAAQIS’ website on the air quality in high-priority areas. She asked if SAWS applied the same urgency in procuring backup power generators for its air quality monitoring stations as it has with its weather radar stations. In addition, she asked what plan was in place to secure backup power supplies to ensure that the stations were reporting regularly and effectively.

She asked how SAAQIS’ raw data could be accessed by members of the public.

Mr Paulsen indicated that since the end of the Fifth Parliament, the Committee has continually heard of how power supply interruptions had affected the work of SAWS. He asked for SAWS to provide the Committee with its plan on how it will procure backup power supplies for the weather monitoring stations, especially given the need for the country to have reliable and fully functional weather services – which is critical in the face of the unstable climate conditions.

Mr Mnikeli Ndabami, Executive: Information and Infrastructure Systems, SAWS, confirmed that SAWS air quality stations have been affected by vandalism. Even after the entity tried to implement alternative power supplies on its automatic weather and rainfall stations its solar panels were vandalised. For this reason, SAWS is looking for alternative sites to install backup power supplies for its air quality and automatic rainfall stations. Going forward, extra security personnel will be stationed on sites where solar panels are installed.

Touching on the question related to SAAQIS’ monitoring system only capturing data from 31% of air quality monitoring stations, he mentioned that the station referred to by Members has been severely impacted by load shedding. At present, SAAQIS data system has reported on close to 100% of the stations, he added.

In response to the question on whether SAWS applied the same urgency in procuring backup power generators for its air quality monitoring stations as it has with its weather radar stations, he confirmed that they had been prioritised by SAWS, with the climate change and equality unit monitoring them on a constant basis.

In procuring the backup generators SAWS needs to follow the National Treasury and Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) requirements. Nonetheless, a plan is in place, he continued. One of the initiatives of the plan is to provide backup power supplies to some of the air quality stations in municipalities where there is no backup.

Concerning the question of whether SAWS had a plan, which was budgeted for, that will ensure a smooth transition from ageing to new infrastructure, he confirmed that SAWS had a plan in place which has been budgeted for. In fact, on a previous occasion, SAWS shared the Radar Infrastructure Plan with the Committee. SAWS has also drawn up an Infrastructure Sustainability Plan.

Referring to the question on when SAWS would receive its backup generators, he told Members that SAWS was exploring different backup generators that it could use for its stations. One of the challenges has been the increase in the duration of load shedding hours because the backup generators are only able to provide power for short time periods. Due to this and the increased cost of diesel, priority has been given to procuring alternative power supplies.

Reports on the progress of the plans to procure alternative power sources are submitted to the board committee established to monitor infrastructure, he added.

On how members of the public can access SAAQIS’ raw data, he indicated that the raw data is uploaded onto the site by the local municipalities. As such, all the raw data is available on the site.

Touching on the question of whether SAWS could provide the Committee with its plan on how it will procure backup power supplies for the weather monitoring stations, he said that the plans to do so, and procure alternative power sources, are in place for this financial year. SAWS has also prioritised procuring solar panels for three radars, and in the new financial year it will increase the number of alternative energy sources for other radars.

Mr Nzizi, in response to the question on what the main cause of the deficit experienced in the year under review was, explained that SAWS had to convert the government grant amount earmarked for capital expenditure to one for operational expenses as it was negatively impacted by Covid-19 and the low revenue that followed. As this arrangement has been in place for the last two years, SAWS has been unable to invest in the procurement of new infrastructure.

SAWS was pleased with the support it received from the National Treasury and the DFFE, with the former allocating an additional amount of R134 million that can be used on infrastructure repairs and maintenance in this financial year. With the additional funds SAWS has been able to procure some backup generators, while the UPS (un-interruptible power supply) is in the process of being delivered.

Higher stages of load shedding forced SAWS to increase its expenditure on the repairs and maintenance of infrastructure, he told Members. These amounts were not budgeted for, hence they contributed to the increase in SAWS operating expenditure. In terms of revenue, SAWS is below budget by R33 million, which is mainly due to the fact that it did not receive the donor funds that it was expecting from a mining company. It had planned to utilise some of those funds to purchase equipment that it could use for data monitoring purposes – the equipment could also be used by the mining company and the communities living in the surrounding areas.

SAWS was below budget on non-statutory revenue by R2 million due to the impact of load shedding on the entity’s revenue. Despite those challenges, SAWS saw an improvement in its statutory revenue, hence it had a positive variance of R14 million and a R33 million net amount, he outlined.

SAWS, he continued, has implemented its revenue turnaround strategy and it is currently exploring options on how to mobilise additional funds from stakeholders and its partners.

Ms Dekker highlighted that the Board decided to establish a subcommittee focused on monitoring the implementation of the infrastructure sustainability plans to improve performance.

Ms Weber noted that her question on SAAQIS was not answered. In fact, the entity has provided the same answer to the Committee on this question for the last five years. She asked when SAWS would improve the performance of SAAQIS data management system. She called for SAWS to properly monitor the air quality of high-priority areas.

She asked if SAWS could indicate what losses have been incurred from the vandalism of its infrastructure and load shedding.

The Chairperson agreed that the issue of SAAQIS poor capturing of information from air quality stations had been raised in a previous Committee meeting, and he asked for the department to provide a comment on this matter.

Mr Maesela Kekana, Deputy Director-General: Climate Change and Air Quality Management, DFFE, confirmed that the matter was raised by Members in the previous meeting. He was disappointed that SAWS’ presentation had not touched on the work that has been done by SAWS and the DFFE on this issue. SAAQIS has uploaded information on the air quality of high-priority areas, and a list of those areas has been submitted to the Committee in a previous meeting.

The Chairperson mentioned that the Committee has planned to conduct an oversight visit at SAWS office. Notwithstanding that, he requested that the department or SAWS provide a written response on this matter in the next twenty-four hours, as it has repeatedly been raised by Members.

Mr Mzizi appreciated the Committee’s acknowledgement of SAWS’ clean audit.

In response to the question on what losses had been incurred from the vandalism of the entity’s infrastructure and load shedding, he admitted that he did not have the figures on hand and would provide them to Members in a written response.

Ms Winkler asked that the written response also indicate how much revenue had been lost that is accrued by either services or infrastructure provided to other entities by SAWS.

The Chairperson then handed it back to the Deputy Minister.

Deputy Minister Sotyu noted the concerns raised by Members on the lack of information uploaded on SAAQIS’ website on the air quality of high-priority areas and assured them that the written responses will be submitted in the next twenty-four hours.

Thereafter, she mentioned that the SANParks Board Chairperson and the CEO were present in the meeting.

Opening remarks by the Chairperson of the SANParks Board

Ms Pam Yako, Board Chairperson, SANParks, said that the entity had achieved 82% of its targets. SANPARKS has added over 5400 hectares of land in the Agulhas, Table Mountain, and Karoo National Parks to the national parks system. This forms part of the government’s protected areas expansion strategy.

She further highlighted that the development of the new grassland national park on the north eastern side of the Eastern Cape has been innovative and complex because state-owned, private and community-owned land has been incorporated to form part of the Park. This has necessitated sensitive negotiations between all parties. It is an approach that SANPARKS is looking to adopt going forward in expanding its national parks conservation estate.

SANParks has begun implementing the Climate Change Preparedness Strategy, as well as the Green Energy Strategy – with solar panels being installed in the parks and other SANParks infrastructure, she said.

During a sitting in the previous year on issues related to the Table Mountain National Park, the Minister of the DFFE committed to organising a roundtable discussion; that has taken place, with a memorandum of agreement signed between SANPARKS, Cape Nature and the City of Cape Town that is focused on the management of baboons within the Cape Peninsula. Since then, SANParks has recently developed a baboon strategic management plan, which it is still receiving comments on.

The Board Chairperson led a delegation in April of this year that met with some of the stakeholders at the Table Mountain National Park, and the CEO did the same in June. As such, work is being done to ensure that some of the challenges identified by stakeholders are addressed.

SANParks noted that it had increased the number of tourists visiting its parks by 42% year on year. She announced that SANParks was pleased with the 226% increase in the number of international tourists that have visited its parks; however, this was still 50% below the levels seen prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. A lot of work has to be done for the entity to improve on these numbers going forward, she stressed.

In a previous meeting, SANParks mentioned that part of its recovery has been driven by the increase in domestic tourism, which it was pleased by. Parks Week will be held from the 16th to the 24th of September. Through this programme, SANPARKS hoped to encourage South Africans to visit its parks more often.

Work on infrastructure is ongoing. During the presentation of its APP SANPARKS mentioned that it has had to work on resolving its backlog maintenance of infrastructure and also repair infrastructure damaged by the floods, she said. By improving its infrastructure more tourists would be attracted to visiting the entity’s parks, she added.

SANPARKS, she announced, had achieved an unqualified audit for the year under review and had seen an improvement in its finances. In the last year, SANParks managed to generate a total revenue of R2.8 billion, which is a 17% improvement year on year. She was pleased to report that the entity recorded a surplus of R102 million compared to a deficit of R253 million in the previous financial year.

She acknowledged that the Committee has repeatedly expressed its concerns about the vacancies in key positions within the entity’s executive management. As such, she was pleased to announce that the entity has appointed a new Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Ms Pretty Makukule, and Management Executive for Conservation Service, Mr Howard Hendricks. SANPARKS currently has a female CEO, female COO, female CFO and female Chairperson of the Board.

The entity is at the advanced stages of appointing an individual to the position of Management Executive for Tourism Development, who will replace the current CEO, she pointed out.

Also during the presentation of its APP, SANParks mentioned that work was underway to implement Vision 2024. This vision was drafted in response to the policy directions taken by the DFFE on the work around the high-level panel and the white paper. In addition, it is intended to enthuse South Africans to work with SANParks in co-creating the national parks that they want.

The Minister launched this vision in early April 2023, she continued, and multiple engagements with various stakeholders have followed since then.

Briefing by SANParks on its 2022/23 Quarter 3 & 4 Performance

Ms Hapiloe Sello, CEO, SANParks, and Ms Pretty Maluleke, CFO, SANParks, took the Committee through the entity’s third and fourth Quarter Performance Report for the 2022-2023 financial year.

Ms Sello mentioned that SANParks managed to achieve a performance target of 82% across both quarters.

(Note that PMG was unable to obtain the presentation document).

Discussion

Ms Weber indicated that she would pose a few questions to the entity. One, she asked if there were other reasons as to why auctions in other parks did not take place (as they had not taken place in its Eastern Cape parks). Further to this, she asked what impact this had on the Kruger National Park’s revenue.

Two, she asked if SANParks had implemented measures to speed up the entity’s slow SCM and personnel appointments.

Mr Bright said that SANParks achievement of 83% of targets was not impressive and it should do better going forward. He indicated that he would pose several questions to the entity.

One, he asked if the entity has managed to resolve its SCM challenges.

Two, he asked why the online auction platform had not yet been set up, which division in the entity was responsible for its development, and if consequence management had been implemented against those officials.

Three, he asked if the entity believed that drought had been the sole reason for the lack of growth in the Rhino population, or if poaching had also played a significant role.

Four, he asked how far in the process SANParks was in filling the vacancies of the eighty-two ranger posts. This will play a critical role in combating poaching, he stressed.

Five, he asked how many polygraph tests had been carried out on SANParks officials since its commitment to implement the programme last year.

Ms Mchunu was pleased that both the CEO and CFO were female for the first time in SANParks’ history.

She asked for the entity to present its improvement plan to the Committee in a future sitting, which will address what will be done to address the SCM challenges that have affected it for quite some time.

After that, she asked if SANParks had completed drafting its human resources management plan.

She wished the entity well in its effort to improve its operational and financial performance.

The Chairperson asked what the entity’s plan was to increase the Rhino population, as it has continued to attribute the failure to reach its target on the drought that occurred in 2016.

Ms Weber added that in 2020, SANParks had circulated a letter stating that it had recovered from the drought. There was no reason for the Rhino population not to have grown at this time as the drought ended in 2018, she believed.

Mr Property Mokoena (Managing Executive: Parks, SANParks, in response to the question on why SANParks did not host its auctions at other parks in the country, explained that drought had a serious impact on the auction of animals because the entity was unable to successfully capture the animals as they had been under strain. As the auction is based in the Addo area of the Eastern Cape, and the majority of animals sold there are Addo Buffaloes (which are only found in that area), SANPARKS was unable to transport the animals to other national parks, he added.

Ms Sello, referring to the question of whether SANParks had implemented measures to speed up the entity’s slow SCM and personnel appointments, admitted that the entity has not yet resolved a solution to speed up these processes. She pointed out that budget limitations were the reason for the slow processes. One proposed solution is for the entity to solicit external assistance – SANPARKS had avoided this option due to the costs involved.

However, SANParks has found a partial solution to improve the speed of awarding tenders, she said, which is that prior to officials adding a project to the annual procurement plan they have to first present bid specifications. SANParks hoped that this would make it more efficient in implementing its procurement plan and also shorten the procurement process, she added.

She asked for the Member to clarify the question on the consequence management, as she did not understand it.

On the reasons for the delay in establishing the online auction platform, she stated that no consequence management had been implemented because there was no evidence of negligence. SANParks found that the failure was due to the inefficiencies of the SCM processes. The project was managed through the corporate services division.

Dr Howard Hendricks, Management Executive: Conservation Services, SANParks, mentioned that the online auction was held on the Third and Fourth of March of this year but the actual capture and delivery did not occur. Income is only received once the animals are safely delivered to the buyer.

Referring to the questions on what the entity’s plan was to improve the Rhino population and whether poaching also contributed to the entity’s inability to grow the Rhino population, he clarified that in this particular indicator, the entity had lumped both black and white Rhinos together. Rhinos in the Kruger are constantly moving around the Park, and there has been noted growth in some of the sub-populations and declines in others.

He reported that four out of the five white Rhino sub-populations had seen a decrease in the population numbers, whereas three out of the four black Rhino sub-populations had seen an increase. There were several factors for the lack of overall population growth of Rhinos in the Kruger. As the entity has completed its Rhino Conservation Strategy it will begin implementing additional measures to respond to the challenges related to Rhino populations.

Ms Sello, in response to a question asked on the Zoom ChatBox on the reported killing of an elephant, mentioned that it was a relatively new matter that had come to her attention.

Mr Oscar Mthimkhulu, Managing Executive: Kruger National Park, SANParks, said that the entity did not know the actual details of the shooting of the elephant, however, it has made inquiries with the Associated Private Nature Reserves (APNR) on what occurred. Once it had received the information it would provide it to the Committee, he added.

Ms Sello added that the incident occurred two days ago in the Maseke Game Reserve.

The Chairperson asked when the Committee would receive a response on the shooting.

Ms Sello requested that the Committee give the entity two days to report back on the shooting.

On the question related to the number of polygraph tests that had been carried out on SANParks officials, she indicated that the Board approved a policy earlier this year on this programme. Since then the executive management has worked on developing a standard operating procedure (SOP) to accompany the policy. The SOP has been approved by the executive management.

As much as it is a SANParks programme, it is particularly being applied in the Kruger National Park.

Mr Mthimkhulu said that according to the programme, SANParks will conduct polygraph testing in October. Thirty staff members in senior leadership positions have volunteered to undergo the tests. Once those were done, the entity would conduct tests on junior staff members.

Ms Sello, on whether the entity had drafted an improvement plan for its human capital strategy, mentioned that SANPARKS was willing to provide a written response on the implementation of its improvement plan.

The Chairperson asked if the Members had any follow-ups to the responses provided. As there were none, he handed over to the DM once more.

Deputy Minister Sotyu indicated that SANBI would present its report to the Committee. Both the Board Chairperson and the CEO were present in the meeting.

Opening remarks by the Board Chairperson of SANBI

Prof Edward Nesamvun, Board Chairperson, SANBI Board, said that he was pleased to be leading the SANBI delegation. In the Third Quarter, SANBI achieved a 93% performance against its APP commitments, which was a significant improvement from the 87% achieved in the first two quarters. The performance in the Fourth Quarter was 96%, which represented 47 out of 49 targets met.

The Board of SANBI continues to provide oversight and guidance to the management team, in line with the relevant legal prescripts governing its role and conduct. He reported that the executive management’s collective effort in the implementation of the identified targeted improvement measures has seen SANBI recording an impressive overall performance of 94% for the 2022-2023 financial year.

SANBI continues to work hard in an innovative and collaborative manner to deliver on its mandate. While there were many achievements, SANBI noted that there were also a few areas that continued to present it with challenges. The first area of concern was the external audit improvements, which was a plan implemented in the 2021-2022 financial year.

As reported in its last briefing to the Committee, following the conclusion of the external audit process, the executive management developed an external audit improvement plan which was approved by the Board. This plan sought to improve the external audit outcomes and also to address all the findings emanating from the 2021-2022 external audit process.

The plan was monitored by the Board and its respective committees on a quarterly basis to ensure that all findings were resolved by the end of March 2023. He was pleased to inform all of the findings, thirty-one, were fully resolved by the end of the Fourth Quarter on 31 March 2023.

The second area of concern was the recorded irregular expenditure. During the Third and Fourth Quarters, irregular expenditure recorded amounted R327.9 and R651.3 million. SANBI’s executive management implemented consequence management but could not successfully conclude the condonation phasing out process.

As of 31 March 2023, disciplinary action was implemented against certain officials, and a request for condonation was submitted to the National Treasury. However, the National Treasury advised the accounting authority to comply with the framework by considering these items for removal after the management had addressed the gaps.

The letter from the National Treasury stated that the irregular expenditure framework of instructions note two of 2019-2020, did not make provision for an appeal process, he went on.

At present, the executive management is addressing the concerns raised by the National Treasury for the accounting authority’s consideration in October 2023.

The third concern was SANBI’s financial position, he stressed. SANBI was financially insolvent, with total assets exceeding total liabilities and liquid assets exceeding current liabilities.

The fourth concern was SANBI’s financial sustainability. The Board approved the implementation of SANBI’s financial sustainability strategy 2023-2024, which goes up 2031-2032. This strategy is aimed at maximising SANBI’s income-generating potential, through exploring identified opportunities, and pursuing strategic partnerships and other innovations. The strategy is currently being implemented and is being monitored on a quarterly basis, he added.

The repositioning strategy of the National Zoological Garden (NZG) and the implementation plan were approved by the Board in February 2023. SANBI continues to implement this strategy, which is aimed at enhancing the role of the NZG in conservation, environmental education, research and ecotourism.

The focus during the reporting period was to implement the targeted infrastructure improvement programme, given the ailing infrastructure it inherited.

The fifth concern was capital development and transformation.

Programme two continues to implement the employment of graduate skills development, which is a programme assigned by the DFFE. He was pleased to report that at the end of the Fourth Quarter, a thousand one hundred and fourteen graduates were successfully placed with host organisations.

SANBI continues to implement its transformation charter, which is an important aspect of its transformation broadly. The biodiversity human capital development strategy continues to play an important role for SANBI in terms of leadership within the biodiversity human capital and development strategy for the sector.

The sixth concern was the garden expansion programme. SANBI together with its strategic partners, the North West (NW) province and the NW Parks Board, continues to strengthen collaboration in the pursuit of an establishment of a national botanical garden in the NW province, preferably in Rustenburg.

SANBI fulfilled its primary decision support mandate by also providing scientific and policy advice on a number of critical areas, among others, which includes trades in species, the state of biodiversity in the country, the impact of alien invasive plants and the protection of species and the ecosystems.

SANBI continues to participate in processes led by the department in the review of policies, legislation, and practices in biodiversity and conservation, aimed at fostering sustainable development while taking into consideration social and economic imperatives.

Key environmental sector work that SANBI continues to play a critical role includes a contribution to the sectors, the medium-term strategic framework (MTSF) commitment, and securing strategic water resource areas. This critical work will ensure South Africa’s sustainable water security through the protection of strategic water source areas which constitute 10% of the land surface of the country, yet provide more than 50% of the water requirements.

SANBI noted with appreciation the adoption of the Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework with targets for implementation. The entity continues to participate in the process of domesticating this framework.

SANBI, he added, supported the department in the development of the White Paper on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity.

Briefing by SANBI on its 2022/23 Quarter 3 & 4 Performance

Mr Shonisani Munzhedzi, CEO, SANBI, and Mr Elliot Mashile, Chief Operations Officer, SANBI, took the Committee through SANBI’s Third and Fourth Quarter APP Performance Report for the 2022-2023 financial year. Both only touched on a few areas of the presentation as the Chairperson of the Board had covered the majority of SANBI’s financial and operational performance across both quarters.

Overall Operational performance

Mr Munzhedzi told the Committee that SANBI achieved a 93% performance against its APP commitments for the Third Quarter, which was a significant improvement from the 87% achieved in the first two quarters. The APP performance in the Fourth Quarter improved by 3% to 96%, which represented 47 out of 49 targets met.

A key target that SANBI missed in the Third Quarter was the failure to place five hundred and twenty-five Groen Sebenza interns, with only one hundred and sixty interns placed. The failure to meet this target was due to delays in the recruitment process by the host organisations.

(See Presentation)

Discussion

Mr Bryant noted that there were positive developments at SANBI, with the entity being one of the top-performers in terms of compliance.

Earlier in the year it was mentioned that SANBI was considering establishing a parallel structure that would replicate some of the Botanical Society (BOTSO) programmes, as it believed that there would be a likely drop in its membership due to the cancellation of the free entry. He asked if that was true.

Mr Munzhedzi denied that SANBI was creating a parallel structure to the Society. One of the issues he wanted to address was the honouring of BOTSO membership. The current arrangement and agreement with BOTSO required SANBI to honour the former’s existing life memberships and the associated free access to the national botanical gardens, to cardholding primary life members and their guests.

SANBI continues to work with BOTSO within the framework of the collaboration agreement which is reviewed every two years, with the next one due to occur from October to December of this year, he indicated.

Rather than creating a parallel structure, SANBI is in fact pursuing a membership system, with the entity currently sourcing a service provider to maintain that, he pointed out. This has been communicated with BOTSO as part of the collaboration agreement.

The Chairperson highlighted that the Third Quarter target of placing 525 Groen Sebenza interns was completely missed by the entity.

Mr Munzhedzi explained that the target was missed in the Third Quarter but exceeded in the Fourth Quarter, as all of the administrative tasks, such as the release of advertisements, had to be done in the former.

The Chairperson mentioned that it had become a trend amongst the entities to not meet their targets in the Third Quarter, but to meet them in the Fourth Quarter. He advised SANBI to implement strategies to ensure that its Third Quarter targets are completed on time. 

Mr Munzhedzi noted the advice given and admitted that SANBI was not proud of missing the target.

The Chairperson asked if Members had follow-up questions for SANBI.

Ms Weber said that she would pose her questions to SANBI in writing.

The Chairperson handed over to the DM for her final remarks.

Deputy Minister Sotyu thanked the Members and officials from all the entities present for the discussion. Furthermore, she assured Members that all outstanding clarities would be provided to them on the timelines.

The Chairperson thanked the officials from the entities for their input in the discussions, and he welcomed the improvements made in the two quarters.

The meeting was adjourned.